Besides Facing Debt and Housing Crisis, Millennials are Also Falling into this Financial Trap

According to a study by personal-finance site Bankrate.com, a large number of millennials are falling victim to the dangers of trivial financial vices like dining out or going to coffee shops. The study showed that 30% of millennials said they bought coffee at least three times a week and 54% of millennials eat out at least three times a week. On average, a millennial dines out or gets take-out five times a week. The number of phone and internet restaurant orders have increased by 18% in 2016 alone to 1.9 billion — with those younger than 35 as well as those with higher household income being some of the most avid users of ordering apps like Grubhub (NYSE:$GRUB) — according to some data released last March by research firm NPD Group (traded privately).

It might be time to start thinking about cutting down on those morning coffee runs and staying in for dinner, millennials. It’s often minor and habitual expenses like ordering take-out, coffee, and/or alcohol, that hurts your budget the most, Bankrate financial analyst Sarah Berger explained. Making your meals at home or brewing your own coffee can actually save quite a lot.

While it may seem like that it is largely millennials that are fully into this finance trap — 59% of all age groups said they don’t get coffee or tea from a shop in a typical week, and 40% said they only dine out or get take-out once a week — restaurant food is the number one thing Americans spend money on. According to the Principal Financial Group’s annual Financial Well Being Index, an average American spends about 24% of their budget on restaurant food, 20% on groceries, and 18% on entertainment. On average, Americans spend $53 on lunch per week.

However, unlike the average American, millennials face even bigger issues besides minor expenses that can be built up to financial monsters. More-so than any other generation, millennials have far more student loan debt. Student loan debt have soared to the ridiculous number of $1.3 trillion as universities and colleges hike up tuition prices. They are also facing a housing crisis where even a simple one bedroom apartment have become impossible to rent. The golden rule of not spending any more than 30% of one’s income on rent or mortgage has now become an unattainable goal unless you make an extremely above-average income.

Still, it seems that younger millennials (age 18 to 26) are trying to gear up to these realities. This age group is more inclined to try and get enough emergency savings to cover about three to five months of expenses (31%), compared to older millennials and Generation X-ers who are most likely to have no emergency savings, according to another survey conducted by Bankrate.

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About the author: Grace is currently studying at UBC to achieve her BA in Computer Science. She is due to graduate in 2020. As a content creator, Grace has written financial analysis, stock market news, and informational investing articles. She also worked as an editor with her university publication 'UBC Undergraduate Journal of Art History'.